Looks like contour is out of business

[firecrotch]

Dang it. I like my tucked in little unit and was looking forward to more fromthem. I knew people that worked there and been to thier downtown office in Seattle a couple times. Sucks

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-21/three-lessons-in-the-wipeout-of-contour-cameras

 

[Blakelpd5]

That sucks, but Go-Pro has grown so big recently it's unreal. They have a presence at all the events I like, and more... I have a buddy that went to work for go-pro a year or so ago. Travels all over the US to major events rigging the race vehicles with go-pros...


And on another note. PC has had 2 contour cameras, and I have had 2 go-pros... The go pro has far superior video and audio, he will tell you the same.

 

[ray_ray]

Dang it. I like my tucked in little unit and was looking forward to more fromthem. I knew people that worked there and been to thier downtown office in Seattle a couple times. Sucks

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-21/three-lessons-in-the-wipeout-of-contour-cameras

Yep, I really like my ContourRoam (only $90 cost) ... I never, never say "Is my camera on" or "Is my camera off" as all the gopros guys say multiple times per day ...Not a fan of the gopros and don't need all the whistles on some of their devices ... I've said this before but I'm a dirt bike rider and not a movie maker ... I use these cams but they are a distraction from my riding ...

-- Via that article link

GoPro, in addition to making cameras as slick or slicker than anyone else, rounded up major money from heavyweight venture capitalists. Most recently, it sold a 9 percent stake to Foxconn (HNHPF) for $200 million in December. That kind of cash allowed it to spend heavily on marketing, sponsoring athletes like Olympic snowboarder Shaun White and even getting its camera strapped to steely stuntman Felix Baumgartner for his famous Stratos space jump.

--

Foxconn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
on Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Foxconn Technology Group, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturing company headquartered in Tucheng, New Taipei, Taiwan. It is the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer measured by revenues.

Foxconn is primarily an original design manufacturer and its clients include major American, European, and Japanese electronics and information technology companies. Notable products that the company manufactures include the iPad,[5] iPhone,[6] iPod,[6] Kindle,[7] PlayStation 3,[8] and Wii U.

Foxconn has been involved in several controversies most relating to how it manages employees in China, where it is the largest private-sector employer. In 2012 Apple hired the Fair Labor Association to conduct an audit of working conditions at Foxconn.

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Small world ... Selling out to the Chinese is part of the "Is my camera on" or "Is my camera off" clan ... And nothing wrong with that but its always good to know who your daddy really is ...

 

[justpinit]

Everyone sheepishly follows advertising, and what everyone else is doing. This sucks i love my contour.a friend of mine bought a go pro and the friggin battery dies quick!My contour records for hours especialy since it's easy to turn on and off!

 

[ajaxauto]

Everyone sheepishly follows advertising, and what everyone else is doing. This sucks i love my contour.a friend of mine bought a go pro and the friggin battery dies quick!My contour records for hours especialy since it's easy to turn on and off!

you can mount 2 battery on a go pro and a 32 pix flim chip or what evey you call it mine last up to 5 hours It has been on at all the Nationals I have done this year where we take almost 5 hours to finish them And I have film still running at the finish

 

[robertaccio]

If y'all are on a real ride/race (tease/troll).....never any need to turn it on, off and on/off over and over.
Simply turn it on before the start of the ride/race turn it off after you finish.
(dont get wound up on this I'm just joking in a snide way)R

 

[Kyle Tarry]

Small world ... Selling out to the Chinese is part of the "Is my camera on" or "Is my camera off" clan ... And nothing wrong with that but its always good to know who your daddy really is ...

How is getting an infusion of cash for a 9% stake "selling out to the Chinese"

 

[ray_ray]

Everyone sheepishly follows advertising, and what everyone else is doing. This sucks i love my contour.a friend of mine bought a go pro and the friggin battery dies quick!My contour records for hours especialy since it's easy to turn on and off!

Yep, I switch mine off and on all day on the fly and just record what I like ... I've never filled my 16G MEM card up in a single day this way and at the end of the day, I have multiple small videos to up-load as they were recorded on the ride ... I'm not a real movie maker \ director and don't like spending my time editing much....
--

The remaining cams on the market may just drop to a price I am willing to pay ...

 

[street2dirt]

I'm bummed to hear this, to me the gopro is bulky & has limited mounting options to suit my needs. Every HS here in Floriduh you find 2-3 gopr's on the ground. Sure it's ok for mx or wide open type stuff but gnarly trails, not so much. I've got 2 contours so I'll use them as long as possible. Hopefully something else will fit my needs in the future. I'm old & kinda adverse to buying something just becuz they have the biggest ad budget......

 

[Johnrg]

One reason I stick with GoPro is it's acquisition of Cineform. I had been using a Cinform Codec with an older Canon HD camera and it offered transcoding to a higher color space and no need to render on the timeline in Premiere and other editors for many transitions. To have the synergies of the best hardware and software together makes GoPro worthwhile compared to others. Compression of files is at the heart of crappy video quality and preserving that quality is paramount. I do agree though that some issues like whether the cam is on or off or battery just died can be a problem but I'm hard pressed to select another vendor, mostly for Cineform.

http://skiingbusiness.com/4867/news...eo-compression-company-for-undisclosed-price/

 

[firecrotch]

I guess i missed something. Whats the "is the camera on, is the camera off" thing with go pros?

 

[Johnrg]

I guess i missed something. Whats the "is the camera on, is the camera off" thing with go pros?

Just the fact that you cannot see the lights or display, and you inadvertantly hit the on/off instead of the shutter or the battery dies too soon. Sometimes you don't press the shutter firmly enough and it stays on, then you press again to turn on and you've turned it off, etc... I now have the remote which I use alot as I can keep it close at hand, either in a pocket or w/wrist strap and have ready access and a display that mimmicks the camera display.

 

[PC.]

And on another note. PC has had 2 contour cameras, and I have had 2 go-pros... The go pro has far superior video and audio, he will tell you the same.

I can say without a doubt the Hero 3 Silver has much better video and audio than either of the Countours I owned (720p and Roam). Although I loved the Roam for its simplicity and I the fact that I got it for $90 new. I sold both my Contours recently to some street bike dude in Seattle.

Not that it matters, but I bought one of the original Contours (the 720p... back when the company was still using the VHoldr branding) and the video quality was superb. Unfortunately, I had to return that camera for warranty work and they replaced it a 'new' 720p and the vid quality was WAY worse. I sent that one back too and the next replacement cam had the same crap quality. That first one I had was a ringer though and I'm guessing they changed suppliers around that time frame.